"Rosine was a girl four years older than me who lived across the street." Jill spoke as she rubbed Guts's head, remembering the past. "To me, an only child, she was like a real big sister."
"Rosine was a little strange.....she liked playing in the woods and streams like a boy would....and she'd catch bugs and small animals to show off to me. She had lots of junk, the kind boys would consider treasure. The oddest of all of this egg-shaped stone that looked like it had a face on it. She said she found it at a riverbank and always took good care of it." As Jill spoke, Merlin looked at Guts, noticing his eye narrowed. This went unnoticed to Jill, who stared at the sky. "We'd play in the woods and streams for so long that suddenly the sun would begin to set. That kind of thing happened a lot........but now that I think of it, she was avoiding going home. I didn't understand at the time, but it was probably because her parents fought a lot. She was often the reason.......she'd always show up the next day with bruises on her cheeks and arms, at those times she'd always tell me......."
"Jill, the story of Peekaf isn't really right. In the real Peekaf story, it turns out he was a Fairy. Even now, he lives in the forest happily with his real parents in the land of fairies. And to tell the truth.....I'm just like Peekaf. I really belong in their land as well."
"She'd turned to me, as I looked serious and impressed, and she would grin in a funny way. Like she was forcing herself to be cheerful." Jill hummed as she ran her fingers through the swordsman's hair. "I heard about this later on......before I was born, my village got wrapped in a big conflict with the fanatics who disliked Saxons trying to live in peace. Most of the villagers had taken refuge in the forest....but it seemed like all the women didn't escape in time. Among them, was Rosine's mother. Rosine had to grow up listening to her father's remarks, like 'Is that girl really my daughter?!' Than one night, while it was raining....she visited my window."
. . .
"Huh, Rosine?" Jill questioned as she opened her window shutters, it was raining rather hard and down on the street before her was Rosine, still in her nightgown. Her hair soaked from the rain and a lamp in her hand, yet Rosine smiled all the same.
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"Jill!" Rosine whispered low enough so the girl could hear her. "This is goodbye! I'm leaving!"
"G-goodbye?" Jill repeated as she looked down at the smiling girl. Jill rubbed her eyes, before looking back down at the girl with curiosity. "B-but where will you go?"
"Where else would I go? The mistey valley of course!" Rosine spoke with joy, stars in her eyes. She slowly began to walk away, but kept looking at the small girl. "I'm going to the land of Fairies! Farewell, Jill. I leave all my treasures to you....."
"R-Rosine!" Jill shouted from her window, watching as the girl disappeared into the night, only a small ball of light signaling where she was.
